San Rafael to launch eco-friendly commute program for city workers

San Rafael officials are hoping city workers will find more eco-friendly ways to get to work in the new year by participating in an employee commute pilot program.

On Jan. 1, the city will implement a $10,000 program that will pay nearly 370 employees to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by getting to work any way other than driving in a car alone.

The goal is to reduce negative effects on the environment, as the city's 2005 greenhouse gas inventory showed employee commutes are responsible for nearly 41 percent of City Hall's total emissions.

City management analyst Rebecca Woodbury worked on creating the one-year pilot program with a committee of city officials. She said the hope is that people will try a new way of getting to work, like it and keep doing it.

"I'm hoping it grows as we get more people involved," Woodbury said.

Employees who carpool for at least two months will receive a one-time $50 stipend. Those who jump aboard transit will get a $20 Clipper card that can be used to pay for public transportation via Golden Gate transit and ferries and other supported modes.

Employees who lease or buy an all-electric vehicle will receive a one-time $100 stipend. Plus, up to $125 of an employee's pre-tax pay can be set aside to be used for transit tickets or vanpool costs.

Workers who lease or own a van and vanpool for at least six months can receive a one-time $600 stipend. Vanpool passengers can get a one-time $200 stipend after six months. Woodbury said vanpools are also eligible via the Transportation Authority of Marin for a two-year, $3,600 subsidy toward a van's lease.

"We have a lot of employees in Petaluma that could vanpool," Woodbury said.

All program participants, including those who bike or walk to work, will be eligible for quarterly city raffles. Carpools and vanpools are eligible for prime parking spots and all employees can use a free Ridematch service through www.511.org, a multimodal transportation resource, to help them find a commute buddy.

Participants are also eligible for a free emergency ride home service through TAM.

Woodbury said the program will even extend to employees who want to carpool or take transit only once or twice a week.

She said the program is a good start to an effort that is different than Marin County's program, which ceased earlier this year due to budget constraints and low participation.

The county's $75,000 annual "green commute" program ended in July. The $2 daily stipend for employees who biked or carpooled to work, cut from $4 two years ago, was once a model to other government entities, but employee enrollment dropped to less than 8 percent of the workforce, down from 14.5 percent in 2008.

Marin County Department of Public Works spokeswoman Jeri Stewart said the county's pilot project was extremely successful while it lasted, but that it was time to revamp the program.

"After January, we will definitely start to roll forward some new ideas," Stewart said.

Of the 118,049 workers age 16 and older living in Marin County, only 9,314 take public transit and only 10,019 carpool. A majority of the county's workers drive alone to their jobs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2011 American Community Survey.

City Manager Nancy Mackle said San Rafael's program will likely be tweaked over time, to make sure it's as easy as possible for city employees to reduce their solo trips to work.

"None of it is cast in stone," Mackle said. "It's adaptable."

Over time, the city plans to look at getting a secure bicycle parking area as well as an employee shower and locker room. Telecommute and alternative work schedule options will also be explored.